Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Seriously, one of the easiest and most delicious things I have ever made! Who knew making bagels was so easy? Homemade NY Style Bagels seem to be a popular food blog item as of late, and I wanted to hop on the bandwagon too! I go in spurts, where I really get into making yeast breads....like Oatmeal Bread, Mulitgrain Bread, Challah Bread, and Cinnamon Rolls. I like to cook, but I will tell you, my real passion lies in baking. I just love to bake! I probably love it too much...but this was the first time I have ever made bagels.

I took the recipe for these bagels from one I had seen on two blogs I regularly follow, MyBizzyKitchen and PreventionRD. Both Nicole and Biz talked this recipe up BIG, so I knew it would be good! ( you can find both of their original posts about these bagels by following the links on their recipe indexes, respectively) I also saw an excellent tutorial on TastyKitchen last week, with a recipe as well...but in the end I chose to make Nicole and Biz's recipe...because it used Vital Wheat Gluten Flour. By adding a bit of Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, ( I used Bob's Red Mill brand, found in the organic or specialty baking area of most large grocery stores) you are almost assured a super chewy texture. Score! Vital Wheat Gluten Flour also has 23 grams of protein per 1/4 cup.

I used my scale to weigh out the flours. I have found that measuring by volume for yeast breads really is one of the keys to success. I used my stand mixer with the dough hook to make the dough. It easily and quickly came together, and by doing it this way, I didn't need to add any more flour than necessary to make a smooth dough nor do any kneading by hand. I let the dough rise in a covered bowl, which was sprayed with my misto, for about an hour and a half. It was cold in my kitchen, so I turned on my oven to 400 degrees, let it get to temp, turned it off, and then placed the covered bowl on top of the stove where the surface was now very toasty. Biz mentioned that her dough didn't rise much, but mine did, and I was able to punch it down before forming the bagels. Her bagels came out fine without much of a rise...so don't worry if your dough doesn't rise much or at all.

I noticed, after following Nicole's yeast conversion suggestion and putting in 1 1/4 tsp. of yeast into my dough ( I buy in a big container from Costco and keep it in the fridge) that both her recipe and Biz's recipe called for a package of yeast. (Nicole stated that a package was equivalent to 1 1/4 tsp.) The equivalent to one package of active yeast is actually closer to 2 1/4 tsp...but it was too late to adjust. The recipe came out FINE with 1 1/4 tsp. so I am keeping that amount in my recipe version. If you like, you can use an entire package of dry active yeast though.

I weighed out the dough after I punched it down, and got around 800 grams...so I divided that by 10 to get 10 bagels that were about 80 grams each. I found using the rope and twist method Nicole used for forming the bagels suited me the best. You can also just form the dough into a ball and then poke out the middle.

I omitted the extra salt in the water bath...because I just didn't see a need for more salt since it already had baking soda in it. It didn't seem to matter much in the end that I didn't put salt into the bath...I suspect it was just there for flavor, but I am not sure.

Oops! One of them wasn't twisted good enough!

These bagels were wonderful. Tasty, doughy and chewy...like a NY bagel should be. As good as the ones you get in NY? Um....sorry, no...but much, much better than the ones you can buy in the grocery store or even...gulp...Panera. Do not expect a crusty outside...they have more of a soft pretzel like exterior.

I choose to make mine plain...but really, you can top these with whatever you like...or flavor the dough even.

What could make these plain bagels even better? Low fat Strawberry Cream Cheese is what!

I should have refrigerated the spread for a bit to firm it back up before using it....but um...I was hungry and ready for breakfast! and yes, this was the LAST bagel ( which I hid in the freezer for myself ) left from yesterday. Yup, my family liked them that much! Guess what I am making more of this afternoon? lol

In a two cup glass measuring cup, add water, sugar and yeast. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, until the yeast begins to foam up.

Measure out flours and salt into stand mixer bowl. Afix the dough hook on the mixer and mix the flours and salt for a about 30 seconds. With mixer running on low, slowly stream in water/yeast mixture, and allow dough to come together...it will start to come clean from the sides and then you will want to run the mixer on med/high to knead the dough till smooth and elastic. This will take about 8 - 10 minutes. I didn't need to add more liquid nor more flour, but you might need to to get the consistency you want . The dough should not be sticky.

Remove dough to large bowl that has been coated in cooking spray ( I used my misto with olive oil ). Turn dough to coat lightly in oil. Cover and allow to rise in warm place for about an hour or until dough has almost doubled in volume. ( I needed to let it rise for an hour and a half ) Punch down, removing all air pockets and divide equally into 10 pieces.

Shape each piece into a 10 " log and then loop it around to form a bagel shape OR you can poke your finger through the middle of each piece of dough after rolling them into a ball shape, then extend your fingers to make a 1" opening.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a large pot, bring water to a boil and add baking soda. In batches, boil each bagel for one minute on each side...then place on baking sheet that has been coated in cooking spray, lined with parchment or non stick foil, or use a silpat.

Brush each bagel well with egg substitute or egg wash and top as desired..or leave plain like I did.

Bake for 16 - 18 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Cool on rack slightly. Once cooled, store in plastic zipper bag for up to 3 days or freeze for up to a month.

To Make Low-Fat Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread

1 - 8 oz. package of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

1 TBS. powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients in food processor and process until smooth. Allow to sit in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using, to allow flavors to blend and spread to thicken up a little. Serve with homemade NY Style Bagels.

Yesterday, I took a drive to my daughter's college campus. She has quite a bit of money left on her food plan that needs to be used up before the semester is over...or we just loose it. So we ate dinner on campus ( they have a sort of full service Damon's so I got grilled chicken and a baked potato ) and then went to the market to shop. We mostly bought pantry items for her for next year, since she will be living off of campus and not have a food plan...but I scored some really awesome things for us at home...and let me tell ya, I was really impressed with the selection on the on campus market! I must say, it must speak to the more discriminating palates of today's youth! Nice change from burgers and fries!

Whoa! The bagels look perfect! And that cream cheese- I love how you took basic cream cheese and majorly kicked it up a notch. Fabulous. I agree- baking is much more my passion. And way to score some awesome stuff at your daughters campus. Its amazing how over time college food has truly improved

I'd like to order a dozen!!! Actually, if you could make that a STANDING order and send 12 a week! I'm being silly, but these look amazing Renee!!! Your family are so lucky!!! (great scores at the Campus market!) Have a wonderful day!

I used to date a guy in the 60's who was a baker and would make bagels at home and I just loved that NY style. Not sure when I'll try these because I don't have a stand mixer but they sure look good. I will definitely make the cream cheese though. Yum!

Wow..these look incredible! I have never made bread from scratch..especially not bagels. I am sure these taste amazing! I really need to spend a day in the kitchen and whip up something like this. Thanks!

Yippee!! Glad they turned out so good! And I just added you to my blog roll - my first order of business was to weed through ones I don't read anymore, and was going to my "to add" list when I got finished with that.